Surveillance and security at four railway stations falling under the limits of Tiruchi Railway Division are set to be strengthened with installation of a closed circuit television unit system.
Using Nirbhaya Fund, surveillance cameras have been installed at Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai, Villupuram and Kumbakonam railway stations for round-the-clock monitoring. RailTel Corporation has been entrusted with the task of installing and commissioning the closed circuit television system units.
Forty cameras each have been installed at Thanjavur and Villupuram junctions, 41 at Mayiladuthurai and 30 at Kumbakonam, Railway Protection Force authorities have said. Barring Villupuram, the remaining railway stations fall under the mainline section. The exercise of placing monitors at the four railway stations have also been carried out.
The cameras have been installed at vantage points based on joint checks conducted by the Railway Protection Force and Signal and Telecommunication Department of Southern Railway and consultation with railway officials of the stations, the authorities further said.
The commissioning of the CCTV system will enable enhanced surveillance and security at the stations, a senior RPF officer said.
Authorities hope that the CCTV system will be commissioned by next month. Also, there is a proposal to install surveillance cameras at Vriddhachalam, Puducherry, Nagapattinam and Ariyalur stations in the next phase. The plan is to install 40 cameras each at these stations, they say.
At present, Tiruchi railway junction has a slew of cameras installed in 2013 under the Integrated Security Scheme conceived and put in place by the railway administration in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008.